Made For Life
Over 40 million people around the world today are victims of human trafficking, and most of those victims are women. Thankfully, efforts to rescue victims of human trafficking have increased in recent years, but 80% of those rescued will be re-trafficked if they do not have safe employment opportunities. SutiSana offers empowering employment in a healing-centered environment to survivors of human trafficking in Bolivia.
Our Story
While visiting the red-light district of El Alto, Bolivia, one of the women we had gotten to know shared that she felt trapped by the lack of employment opportunities. One day, she asked us, “When are you going to give me a job?” SutiSana was founded in 2010 because of that moment—and for so many women like her. We exist as a freedom business that fights trafficking and sexual exploitation by offering dignified, empowering employment to our artisans.
Our Name
Most SutiSana artisans speak both Spanish and Aymara. In Aymara, “Suti” means “name.” In Spanish, “Sana” means “healed.” As a woman leaves a trafficking situation, she often adopts a new name as part of her healing and new identity.